Just the Facts?

Day 5 Slice

I was getting ready for work this morning while listening to my audiobook when it happened; again.

 I discovered audiobooks several years ago and they now accompany me through all of my mundane chores and while exercising as well.  I have been astonished at how many books I can polish off while cleaning bathrooms, washing dishes, and matching socks. So here I was, listening to my audiobook while mascara-ing my lashes and the reader mispronounced the protagonist’s name yet again. This audio reader has been alternating between names for the main character all through the book.  I have heard Joann, Joanna, and Johanna.  I have no idea what the name of another main character’s last name is because she sometimes adds the letter L to it, and has so many pronunciations that I don’t even realize who she is talking about right away when I hear the name.  She has an awkward stuttering pause before the name and then comes out with some version of it that may or may not match what she has been saying previously. She mispronounces the names of places as well. And punctuation?  Forget about it!  She reads right past commas and even periods at times, leaving me straining to make sense of what I just heard. She mispronounces words as well.  Here’s a little list of words she uses that have startled and puzzled me: bludgeon becomes “blungeon”, faux is “focks” and homicide becomes “home-i-cide”, and imbibed is “embidded”, “emplicable” for implacable, “startling face” for startled face, and “seared off” for sheared off, to mention a few. This audio reader finally sent me scurrying to Google to see who on earth she was, and I soon discovered that I was not alone in my frustrations.  Many others had posted about her, which made me feel justified in my feelings but also prompted a doubt in my mind.  

So far I have only presented the facts.  I haven’t made any judgments, such as that she is hands down a horrible audio reader.  The doubt that I have in my mind, which I mentioned earlier, is where does reporting facts end and unkindness begin?  I think to myself, “Surely if this woman were standing here in front of me I would not be so harshly critical, would I?”  The anonymity of the internet gives us carte blanche to bash other human beings.  None of what I said about her is untrue or exaggerated, but is it necessary?  When should we be tactfully kind?  Have we lost sight of the fact that just because we can say things, perhaps we shouldn’t?  If someone were to ask my opinion of her as an audio reader, should I gleefully catalog all of her mistakes and shortcomings or should I merely say that she is not my cup of tea?